Ferry Duties
by Diva Urd
Summary: Yes, it IS fanfiction, based on the Tamuli... HOW, you will have to guess for yourself! I was rather obvious about it, though. Hope you enjoy, although it's weird!


Hello there!  
  
Yes, I'm reading as fast as possible, Am halfway through the third Tamuli- Book... and proof-reading for a friend, and proof-reading for my husband... and next week, I have two sets of kittens to take in for spaying/neutering for a family member AND myself...  
  
Lots of stuff to do... but hopefully, I will still be able to get back to "Stranded in Eosia" and spend more time with it than the last couple of weeks!  
  
Now, the idea for this fic came to me while reading the second Tamuli- Book... hope it's not too strange!  
  
FERRY DUTIES  
  
Hst'vlkh floated through the liquid atmosphere aboard her ship, feeling just a little irritation rising within her. That was the third time the gooheads of the factory had tried to say that the delivery had been late, while, by her chronometer, they had been three Mrelvan cycles early... She was not even mentioning the other facts to the company triumvirate, the facts that neither the production had had to stop because they had run out of materials, nor had their cargo been decomposing. An outrage! They swindled her and her crew out of at least half their pay on a regular basis – but what was one to do in this sector...  
  
It had been at least five cycles since they had undocked to go on another supply run, but Hst'vlkh liked to cling to Grudges. They made her feel better somehow, despite the aggravation.  
  
Her four arms reached out toward the sack in the corner of her quarters, fishing out some fragrant fruit with her suction cups. She absorbed the delicious liquid out of the large blue plant, tossed the empty, rubbery shell aside and directed her three eye stalks at the transaction plastics. Yes, there was no doubt, she and her crew would have to find a new employer soon.  
  
A strange bubbling sound next to her alerted her that somebody had just entered her domain. One of her eyes fixed on the course of the disturbance, and her horizontally slitted pupil widened at the sight. Had she not known better, she would have said that the creature in front of her was a normal Mrelvan, no different from her or any other hive-member aboard. But in fact, she did know better.  
  
"Shapeshifter," she greeted without preamble, her two smaller arms gesturing surprise. "It has been quite some cycles since we have seen you last. I trust all is well on your world?"  
  
The Shapeshifters were quite different from most of the other entities in this sector. They claimed to be home on a blue planet very far away, and they also claimed that the Maker Spirit of their world dwelt there as well, although not of his own choosing.  
  
Many of the other people chose to laugh at their outrageous claims, but Hst'vlkh knew better than this. The Shapeshifter had some uncommon qualities about them, she knew – this particular one had managed to get her a contract some time ago, when the shiphive community was in great peril. Many a direction- or cleaning-unit had fallen ill, and the Shapeshifter had still somehow gotten them an assignment which paid for the medical bills, how, she did not know.  
  
"I am afraid not all is well on my world, Queen Hst'vlkh," the Shapeshifter – somehow always shaped like a Mrelvan larva – responded. "In fact, I am here to call in the favor you and your hive have promised me. I need to transport some of my children across the surface of my planet – and fast! No one but you can help me."  
  
Hst'vlkh's eye stalks shivered slightly amusedly. Oh yes, she had forgotten about the fact that the Shapeshifters claimed their planet's other inhabitants to be their children, that they had created them. It might just be true – otherwise, this particular being wouldn't request to help her children of the Queen of a Mrelvan hive ship.  
  
"There are some problems we have to discuss first. First, do your children breathe our atmosphere? Second, can they deal with the fact that we are not like them? After all, you yourself told me that they are not very advanced. Third, how do we feed them? I can't imagine that our food will be able to sustain them. And fourth and most importantly: How do we get to your planet and back? Our engine power is great, but it will still take us many cycles to reach it."  
  
The Shifter's eye stalks intertwined, a symbol of great amusement. First, we can put them in the cargo bays – after all, you can freely change the atmospheric conditions there. Second, I won't tell them more than they need to know, so that won't be a problem. Third, I will provide you with raw fruits and vegetables from our planet that you can feed them, and fourth, I will bring you there. So – will you agree to aid me and my companions?"  
  
Hst'vlkh rubbed two of her suction cups against each other as she thought about this. "I am still not sure. The main problem is that we are on a supply run – I have no leisure to simply stray off the route and come to your help. The shiphive could get fired – and I can't let that happen. Furthermore, the confederacy will be very put out with us if we tamper with a vastly inferior species – you know the statutes."  
  
"I will deal with those problems for you, Queen," the seeming larva stubbornly insisted. "I can make it so the travel to my planet and the mission won't take any time at all, and I can take measures to assure that the inferior species will never see you. All proprieties will be observed, nobody will find a reason to tell on you at the next confederacy conference. I promise that no consequences will come out of your help for yourself – aside from the fact that it is me who owes a favor to you again."  
  
She seemed to think about something, then one of her tiny suction cups nestled its way into the big one of Hst'vlkhs right upper arm. The Queen couldn't do a thing but tangle her eye stalks up in amusement and agree.  
  
"Very well. I will fill the cargo bays with the atmosphere you specify, the hallways in front of the chambers will be filled with the same liquid or gas, and some members of the worker-caste will be tending to your people's needs in environmental suits."  
  
"It would be better if they weren't seen by my children at all, Queen," the Shifter disagreed. "However, the idea of filling the hallway in front of the door with our atmosphere is a good one – that way, they won't die if they manage to pry open the door. I would try to hold them in the cargo bay for the few cycles that we will need you. Your workers can shove through food under the slightly open doors, and the environmental suits will keep them from peeking to find out who you are..."  
  
"They would try to pry open the doors? What for?" Hst'vlkh touched her eye stalk with her suction cup in puzzlement.  
  
"They are very curious, queen. Don't worry, though – I shall see to it that they don't become too curious. Do we have a deal?"  
  
"Deal," Hst'vlkh finally agreed, as she had no reasons for not helping the Shapeshifter anymore.  
  
"I will open a portal to our world immediately!" The Shifter waggled her slender arms in an expression of satisfaction and vanished, leaving behind the characteristic blubbering sound of the atmosphere reclaiming the spot she had occupied.  
  
***********  
  
Some time later, it had felt like a whole cycle although the Shifter had assured her that in truth no time at all had passed, Hst'vlkhs shiphive lay in waiting in a concealing cloud of dihydrogenmonoxide vapor on the surface of the planet. The claims of the Shapeshifters so far had proven true – the globe they dwelt on now was far from the known constellations. It posessed a rather rare oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, and the creatures here were supposed to be filled with red blood. How could a creature based on iron exist on a blue planet? The Maker Spirit's ways in this matter were truly obscure...  
  
They had travelled through a rather abruptly opening wormhole to reach this place. Obviously, the talents of the Shapeshifters reached farther than the Mrelvans had given them credit for, up to now.  
  
Finally, the signal of the Shifter arrived. Hst'vlkh ordered her steering caste to slowly approach the land mass on which the 'children' the Shifter had mentioned were supposed to wait for them. The vapor would conveniently shroud the form of their ship, so there would not be any accidental glimpes of the vastly superior technology the Mrelvans posessed.  
  
She lowered the cargo bay ramps, which had been filled with the alien, gaseous atmosphere, and warily watched the beings of this planet enter her ship.  
  
They were rather ugly. Walking on two extremities, their sickly pinkish color reminded the shiphive Queen of the Drellish of their sector – although they breathed decent air and weren't clad in a barbarian display of slightly oxydized iron. Furthermore, they had two more extremities, growing out of joints slightly below their small, insignificant looking heads. A weird sort of fur grew out of most of them, although some seemed to posess less than others, and they had other beings with them, who trotted next to them on four long, thin legs, and for all purposes seemed like local working animals.  
  
Hst'vlkh felt herself growing rather curious about what those weird beings were up to. Spawning? A Work Contract? Well, it was really none of her business, so she shoved those thoughts aside.  
  
When all the beings the Shifter had wanted to be transported were safely inside their cargo bay confines, the Queen gave order to steer towards the place she had been asked to go to. A high humming sound rose in the liquid air, when, deep in the belly of the shiphive, the mover-caste rose their collective voice to fill the engine with the needed frequency to power up. The ship slowly rose above the surface of the world, and sped off.  
  
***********  
  
Three and a half cycles later, Hst'vlkh felt relief washing over her. Everything had worked out: They had reached their destination without the Shifter's children trying to break free of their confines. They had been provided with sufficient food and the dihydrogenmonoxide, which they apparently needed for survival, and they had been in a state similar to hibernation, though shorter, for most of the trip. After they had done what the Shapeshifter had asked them to do, the wormhole had opened again, not far from the blue planet.  
  
The Shifter had asked them to be ready in case she would need their help again, but apparently (thankfully!), that had not been the case. Hst'vlkh had winced when another call had come from the Shapeshifter, but only a few centicycles later, they had been told that the Shifter would manage alone, after all. They had been happy about that – after all, dealing with a species that foreign always bore risks, ranging from accidents with the unfamiliar atmosphere to the fact that the inferior species might find out enough for the confederacy to force obliteration.  
  
Now, they were back in their own sector, and the new cargo was about to be delivered to their factory. Hopefully this time, the triumvirate decided to only keep one third of their pay for late fines (although, of course, they were early, as usual).  
  
The shiphive floated into the docking bay, and the communications wall lit up with the faces of the triumvirate.  
  
"Hst'vlkh, we didn't expect you back so early! Good job!"  
  
The shiphive Queen didn't trust her hearing holes. Had they just approved of their delivery time?  
  
"We decided to reward you and your hive. You will receive double pay, starting with the next load. You have the rest of the day off. Thank you for your hard work, shiphive Queen!"  
  
Hst'vlkh almost knotted her eye stalks together, so funny she thought the situation was. Whatever the Shifter had done to the triumvirate, she had done it thoroughly. Double pay and half a day off? That was just what the shiphive needed.  
  
'Aph'rrrl, if you need us to play Ferry again, we'll be there', she thought giddily as she swam off to tell her crew. 


End file.
